Means for treating the ear



May .2? 1924. 1,495,484

' G. L. IZARD MEANS FOR TREAfIING THEEAR Filed 0G12.A ll, 1922 @aff/'f6 ,Zh kara? Patented May 27, 11924,

EAQSAM GEORGE L. Izaan, 0E MOBILE, ALABAMA.

MEANS FOR TREATING EAR.

T0 all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. IZARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mobile, in the county of Mobile and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Treating the Ear; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to treatment of the ear for the purpose of improvingthe sense of hearing of persons suffering from deafness and ameliorating the annoying conditions commonly associated with abnormal conditions of the organs ofhearing.

It consists in simultaneously treating the organs of hearing with vibrations associated with sounds, and with remedial fluids, such as dry hot air or the warm vapor of a suit able medicament, whereby the organs may respond mechanically to the vibrations of sound while being massaged, as it were, by said vibrations, thus receiving the beneficial effects of approved remedial fluids while being massaged; it further consists in an instrumentality for applying the treatment, comprising the combination of sound producers/and remedial fluid generating or conditioning means whereby the sound vibrations ma'y be transmitted to the ear simultaneously with the application of remedial iiuid through the same conductors; it further consists in the specific treatment and means of treatment more particularly described hereinafter, illustrated in the drawingsand defined inthe appended claims.

In the drawings I have illustrated a preferred embodiment I of my invention and have indicated like parts by like reference characters throughout.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the base portion of the instrumentality;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the'base portion showing, mounted thereon, a hollow collecting and conducting body in vertical section.

Figure -3 is an elevation of the apparatus shown in Figure 2 viewed from a position at right angles tothe position from which the apparatus iS viewed fin Figure 2 and Application led October 11, 1922. SerialNo. 593,930.

showing the hollow collecting and conducting body in section on a plane disposed at an angle of 90o with respect tothe plane of the section illustrated in Figure 2.

In. the drawings, A represents the base of the instrumentality adapted to support all parts thereof and B represents a hollow collecting and conducting member removably seated o'nj said base. l

The base A may be of any suitable `form and material.` The base shownin the drawing is of rectangular form in plan4 andof suitablev thickness. It may be made of wood or any other substance suitable for the purpose` Rising from said base nearer what I term the rear portion' than the front portion thereof is a support l of any suitable form,

platform or seat 2 which maybe slightly depressed below the top. Thissupportmay also be of wood or other material' suitable for the purpose. vMounted on said support l is a. cluster or series of sound producing devices which may be, as shown, electrically operated and in' the nature of electric bells or buzzers: In the embodiment illustrated, there are six of such devices olesignatedfre-` spectively by the reference characters 3, 4:, 5, 6, 7 and 8. The sounding device 3 is preferably what is known as a lbuzzer or similar device having a low ldegree of resonance. The devices 4t, 5, 6', 7 'and S'ar'e preferably gongs adapted to produce tones or sounds of diiferent pitch, or sound vibrations of different frequency and amplitude. The saidv sounding devices have associated with them suitable electric circuits well under-v stood and not necessary to be illustrated in detail. The said circuits are arranged in two groups-in the embodiment shown, of

three each. 'Each group of circuits may be controlledby a triple knife switch indicated at 9 and 10, whereby three ofthe sounding devices may be energized or de-energized at will as a group. Each sounding device circuit is 'also individually controlled by an individual switch or push button'as indicated at 1l and 12. In the front of the base or at any other suitable poi-nt theremay lbe a terminal socket a in which'conductors or circuits mounted in the base terminate. and which may be connected to a" duplex con? ductor @0rd forv cnnctng" the apparatus 70 but preferably? cylindrical, having a central with a lamp socket or other terminals of a source of electrical energy. It will thus be seen that the sounding devices may be deenergized in groups, that any one of them may be individually energized or that any combination of them may be energized at will.

A plug 13 may also be mounted on the base so that connection may be made therewith to a suitable heater 141 or 15, according to the method of treatment to be adopted. rlhe heater 14- illustrated in Figure 2 may be a standard electrical resistance immersion heater, the coil of which may be immersed in liquid carried in a suitable container or tumbler, such as is indicated at 16, resting upon the platform 2 of the support 1. It is preferred that the container 16 be made of metal, but this is not material. By means ot the heater 14 a suitable liquid medicament contained in the vessel 16 may be heated. lt will be understood that said heater may be provided with any usual switch device 14a, to make or break the circuit when it is coupled to the plug 18.

The heater 15 is ot' such design that it may rest upon the platform 2 when the container 16 is. removed. The heater 15 is intended -to be coupled to the socket 13 when it is desired to obtain dry hot air for treating the organs of hearing.

The' collecting and conducting body B may be made of metal and is preferably of conoidal form open at both ends, the larger end being` ot' such size as to rest upon the base A and enclose the previously described support 1 with the sounding devices mounted thereon, the container and heater 14.-, or the heater 15 when said container is not in use. The opening 17 at the apex of the conoidal. body is of such size as to emit the sound waves and aerii''orm currents generated in the body B in condensed state so as to kbe concentrated at or near the outer ear of a patient holding his head over said opening. Preferably also, but not necessarily` there may be an opening 18 in one side ot the conoidal body with which a flexible tube 19 communicates, having a nozzle 20 of convenient size and form to be inserted in one of the nostrils of a patient. By reason of this construction the patient may be treated with the sound vibrations and remedial aeriform fluid simultaneously through the outer ear which may be held over the opening 17, while at the same time medicated vapors or heated air may be carried to the inner ear through the nostril by means of the tube 19 and nozzle Q0. The method of treatment may be as follows The hollow collecting body B is seated in place, the patient places his ear adjacent to the opening 17, the operator may then close the circuits of selected sounding devices and test the hearing of the patient. He may also Laet-esa vigorously massage the organs of hearing by operatino' all olE the sounding devices at one time. Should the operator deem it advisable to apply a vaporous medicament to the patient, he will till the container 16 with the liquid medicament, couple the heater 141 inserted in the medicament, turn on the current and boil the liquid. Now the medicated vapol' is issuing from the orifice 17 and the nozzle 2O and may thus be applied to the external and internal ear of the patient. t the same time that medicament is being applied, the operator will cause sound Waves to be transmitted to the organs otl hearing by manipulating the push buttons 1l and 12in connection with the switches 9 and 10. He may, it conditions Warrant, massage the organs by sound waves transmitted vtrom a particular selected sound producer, such as previous tests of the patient indicate the patient hears less distinctly than others. Should treatment with heated air instead of medicated vapors be indicated. container 8 and heater 141 may be removed and the dry air heater 15 substituted for it, the treatment then continuing somewhat as be't'ore indicated.

lt is my belief that the concentrated sound vibrations transmitted to the ear simultaneously with medicated vapor or dry hot air have a direct beneficial effect upon the tympanic membrane, the ossicles of the middle ear, the rods of Corti and, in fact, upon all of the organs of hearing which are reached by the aeriform fluid whilebeing stimulated by the sound waves. It is my belief that the stimulating effect of this combined treatment increases the circulation of blood to the organs of hearing and tends to cause the organs to respond more naturally to transmitted sounds. But, whatever may be the theory ot the reaction of the organs to this treatment, l have found by experience that cases of progressive deafness of long standing have yielded to treatment to such an extent that the sense of' hearing has been partially restored and the patient relieved or" troublesome noises and other symptoms to which the partially deaf are subject.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an instrumentality for treating the organs of hearing, means for producing sounds, a hollow body adapted to collect the sound waves and direct them to the organs of hearing, and means whereby a remedial aeriform fluid may be conducted through said hollow body with said sound vibrations to the ear.

2. In an instrumentality for treating the organs of hearing, means for producing sounds, a hollow body inclosing said sound producing means, said hollow body having an outlet for directing the sound vibrations .to the organs of hearing, and means within lill@ said hollow body for conditioning a remedial aeriform fluid and applying it through said outlet to the ear.

3. In an instrumentality for treating the organs of hearing, means for producing sounds, a conoidal hollow body having an opening in its apex, for enclosing said sound producing means, and means within said conoidal body for conditioning a remedial aeriform fluid.

4;. In an instrumentality for treating the organs of hearing, ine-ans for producing sounds, a hollow body inclosing said sound producing means, said hollow body having two openings, a flexible tube connected at one of said openings, and means within said body for conditioning a remedial aeriform fluid.

5. In an instrumentality of the class described, a base, a plurality. of sound producing devices adapted to produce a continuous succession of sounds of different pitch and intensity singly or in unison, control devices of such character that the sound producing devices may be operated selectively or in any desired combination, and a cone shaped body disposed over said sound producing devices and having its larger end secured to said base.

6. In an instrumentality of the class described, a base, a support rising therefrom, a plurality of sound producing devices disposed on and around said support, thereby providing a central platform for receiving a fluid heating device, and controlling means for said sound producing and fluid heating devices.

7. In an instrumentality for treating the organs of hearing, a base, a support rising therefrom, a plurality of electrically operated sound producing devices disposed on and aroundsaid support, circuits therefor, a plurality of circuit closing devices adapted to open or close groups of said circuits, an individual circuit closing device for the circuit of each sound producing device, and a cone shaped body disposed over said support and the sound producing devices attached thereto, said cone shaped body having its larger end secured to said base.

8. In an instrumentality of the class described, a base, a support rising therefrom, a plurality of electrically operated sound producing devices disposed on and around said support and circuits therefor, an elec trical fluid heating device, adapted to rest upon said support and a circuit therefor, a hollow conoidal body adapted to inclose said sound producing device and heating device, said hollow body having openings for directing sound vibrations and heated aeriform fluid to the organs of hearing, and circuit controlling devices in said base of such character that the sound producing devices may be operated selectively or in groups.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature.

GEORGE L. IZARD. 

